Getting Started
WHERE TO START?
If you are trying to make the leap from being a good casual player or “kitchen-table” player to playing competitively, here is an action list:
- Learn something about the Scrabble community: http://oldtownscrabble.com/29/03/the-scrabble-community.
- Get comfortable with the Scrabble lexicon (and the associated alphabet soup). Word knowledge is one of the principal things that distinguishes casual players from competitive players, so you should be prepared to take a systematic approach to increasing your Scrabble vocabulary (more on that later in the list). At this point, you need to be familiar with the OWL2-LWL (and know a little about its history): http://oldtownscrabble.com/category/lexicon.
- Learn the basic rules of competitive Scrabble: http://oldtownscrabble.com/31/03/tournament-rules.
- Get comfortable using a tracking (or score) sheet: http://oldtownscrabble.com/13/03/score-sheets.
- Learn some words. At a minimum, you should be familiar with all the words in the Beginner words lists (http://oldtownscrabble.com/wordstudy). You’ll have more fun if you’re also familiar with the words on the Intermediate word lists (see the Word Study page). Some clubs will let you use a “cheat sheet” until you get comfortable (the cheat sheet that is generally used is approximately equivalent to the combined Beginner and Intermediate words lists).
- Practice online. Play some timed games and get used to the process: http://www.isc.ro.
- Find a Scrabble club. Go make some friends (and play some Scrabble): http://www2.scrabble-assoc.com/CasualClubs.asp (casual clubs), http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/Clubs (competitive clubs).
- Play in a Scrabble tournament: http://www.cross-tables.com.
- Decide how good you want to be and set some goals (but don’t forget to enjoy the game – that’s the point of it all, right?).
